


Present

by Ephemera_pop (Alex_Draven)



Category: Popslash
Genre: M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-08-13
Updated: 2006-08-13
Packaged: 2018-10-16 23:24:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10581648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alex_Draven/pseuds/Ephemera_pop
Summary: JC's 30th birthday party, fixed by fiction.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For [this request](http://community.livejournal.com/fic_requests/121908.html) over at [](http://fic-requests.livejournal.com/profile)[**fic_requests**](http://fic-requests.livejournal.com/). Many thanks to [](http://nopseud.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://nopseud.livejournal.com/)**nopseud** for the quicky beta, and all and any remaining mistakes are my own. Real people not real events, and feedback always welcome!

When Joey hadn't show up by the time they were all ready to head over to the party, JC didn't think anything of it – Joe would catch them up.

When JC came back to the room – well, JC didn't really remember coming back to the room, but he woke up there and he seemed to be alone, which, for the immediate present, was less important than the fact that someone had left a couple of bottles of water on ice and some pain pills on the bedside table. JC downed them all and collapsed back into bed.

When JC woke up the second time, the hangover seemed to have retreated. The double head shower chasing the booze-sweat off his skin finished it off, and once he was dressed he felt less like sixty and more twenty-something-ish again. Which was when he noticed the box sitting on the dresser, under the ornate mirror which dominated the living room of his suite. There was a whole pile of boxes and bags reflected in the glass, gifts that must have been delivered back from the bar after the party, but there was one that JC especially remembered. A gift box. A gold gift box, with a flurry of black ribbons in one corner, almost obscuring the small, typed, card. JC from JF.

JC from JF.

The last time JC had spoken to Joey, Joey had been about to leave his house for the airport. JC carried the box back into the bedroom, and rummaged in the pocket of his discarded pants for his cell phone. No missed calls. No messages. One text, which was from Lance, and so unintelligible, JC could only assume it had been sent from the very end of the party. Something cold and sharp settled in JC's stomach. He was hitting 'call' before he'd even had time to process the sensation.

"Hey – Joey's phone," Kelly answered cheerily.

JC hung up.

He threw the handset at the bed, and forced himself to take three long, deep breaths.

*****

The first time his cell rang, a few minutes later, he ignored it, but by the fourth set he was infuriated enough to snatch it up and snap 'what?'

There was a moment of silence.

"'C? What's up?"

JC narrowly resisted the urge to hang up again.

"What do you think, Joey? I don't know, maybe it's that you couldn't even fucking call when you decided not to come out here. I mean, fuck, Joe – have you even seen the whatever the fuck this is, in this box, or did you just call up somewhere and have someone else pick it out? I don’t even … just … "

Joey said 'fuck', which sounded quiet and muffled and like he was speaking away from the mouthpiece. JC could just visualise Kelly leaning somewhere nearby, watching the conversation.

"Which hotel are you at?" Joey's voice was clear now, and sharp.

"The Mondrian," JC fired back.

Joey hung up.

*****

JC opened the suite door, expecting his room service brunch, and was entirely thrown to find himself being pushed back into the room with Joey's hand flat against his chest. Joey's eyes were unreadable, and wasn't Joey still in Florida anyway?

"Finally – you have any idea how hard you are to find?" Joey was kissing him before JC had time to react, and JC was pretty sure no one could be truly furious with Joey Fatone's tongue dragging gently over their lips, belying the forceful way his hands were wrapped around JC's skull.

Despite himself, JC's breathing was a little ragged when the kiss ended. Joey didn't quite let him go, though, strong hands resting hot on JC's lower back.

"What?" was all that JC could find to say, out of the maelstrom in his head.

"Jesus, 'C, you would not believe the clusterfuck yesterday. I left my phone in fucking Florida, and Kel was at her folks last night, and then my flight got diverted, for some engine shit or something, and – just – if it could go wrong, it went fucking wrong, you know? And by the time I got down to Sunset y'all had already cleared out, and I don't know what Jus was paying his organiser, but the guy would not give out contact details for anything, and Lance must be staying with his boyfriend, so he never came back to the house, and I am so so so sorry, 'C."

Joey finally stopped talking. It shouldn't have been possible for Joey to be looking up at JC, but he was, with dark, pleading eyes, and the anger and the fear that had been building in JC couldn't stand up to that, to the evidence of Joey, hot and here and clearly caring.

"I thought … " JC shook his head, and Joey tightened his hands for a second.

"I know, 'C, I know. I just. There's not a thing I can say except sorry, though. I'm sorry that I wasn't there. I'm sorry that…" Joey's right hand came up to rest on JC's shoulder, where Joey could run his thumb over JC's jaw. "That I've been a shit in the past, and you've got every reason to have thought what you did."

"Wasn't true though."

"Nope," Joey murmured, and JC found his eye drawn to the bow of Joey's lips, red from the kissing, catching the light where Joey had just dabbed his tongue. "I wanted to be here so bad, babe. Help you celebrate. Give you your gifts …."

JC leant in to taste that glistening spot, swamping Joey's words with another kiss.

"I didn't open it." JC broke the kiss to confess. "I was mad that you got something delivered instead of coming out."

"Shh. Doesn't matter." Joey brushed his lips over JC's cheekbone, and his breath was warm on JC's skin. "Open it later. I was always meant to be with you when you did, but I knew when I was doing the designs that I wasn't going to get into town early enough to pick it up." Joey kissed the corner of JC's eye, making JC shiver. "I'm just glad they got it done in time. Wish I'd gotten here in time, though. I didn't want to …"

"Doesn't matter," JC said into the small space between them, pulling his head back, but not letting go of his grip on Joey's broad shoulders. "You're here now. You want to be here."

"I want to be here," Joey breathed, with his eyes closed, and JC's fingers pushed into the curls at the nape of Joey's neck, and this time it was JC's tongue taking the lead, and Joey's mouth opening, all sweetness and heat and coffee, and maybe turning thirty wasn't such a disaster after all.


End file.
